AFCON

SUPER EAGLES OPEN 2019 AFCON ACCOUNT WITH BURUNDI

Published

5 years ago

April 12, 2019

BY KUNLE SOLAJA

The Super Eagles will begin their quest for a fourth title in the Africa Cup of Nations with a match with Burundi at the Alexandria Stadium on June 22. It will be the first match of the two sides since the Super Eagles beat Itamba of Burundi 2-0 at the MKO Abiola Stadium on 23 January 1999.

The solitary encounter of both teams was a qualifying duel for the 2000 championship, which Nigeria later co-hosted with Ghana thus nullifying the encounter and making the return leg unnecessary.

The Burundi team is in the competition as debutants. Since Africa Cup of Nations’ matches are played as double headers at the group stage, Guinea will immediately after the Nigeria-Burundi clash, take on Madagascar, the second debutant of the tournament.

NIGERIA-BURUNDI HEAD-TO-HEAD

P W D L GF GA

Nigeria 1 1 0 0 2 0

Burundi 1 0 0 1 0 2

23 Jan. 1999 (Afconq) Nigeria 2-0 Burundi

Nigeria’s crunch game will be against Guinea on June 26. Previous clashes of both teams are almost even. Both had met 14 times and each won four and drew six.

This will be the second Africa Cup of Nations’ clash of the two teams since they met at Ethiopia ’76. The score line then was 1-1 following Muda Lawal’s goal in the 52^nd minute and Papa Camara’s equaliser at the dot of 90 minutes.

**Nigeria’s left winger, Kunle Awesu struggles for ball possession with Guinea’s**
**Ali Bangoura at the 1976 Africa Cup of Nations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.**

Both teams have however met on other instances outside the Africa Cup of Nations’ tournaments.

Significantly, it was Guinea that Nigeria eliminated to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in 1963. Nigeria forced a 2-2 draw in Lagos in the qualifying match but lost the return leg 1-0.

The match was however awarded to Nigeria on technical ground as Guinean referees officiated the return leg.

It was also Guinea that Nigeria defeated to win first continental honours, the gold medal of the football event of the 2^nd All Africa Games in Lagos in 1973.

Both Nigeria and Guinea maintained rivalries in the 1963 with the introduction of the Tafawa Balewa Cup, a trophy donated for bilateral competition by the first Nigerian Prime Minister.

In the first leg of the only edition of the competition, Guinea beat Nigeria 3-0 in Conakry while the return leg ended 1-1 in Lagos.

Both teams had also met in World Cup qualifiers, playing 1-1 in Conakry and Henry Nwosu snatching a 90^th minute winner in the return leg in Lagos in 1981.

Nigeria similarly beat Guinea over tow legs in the quest for France ’98 World Cup. Guinea however denied Nigeria qualification for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nation after beating Nigeria 1-0 in Conakry and forcing a 2-2 draw in Abuja.

**An argument between Guinean defender Dian Bolde (C) and Nigeria’s Joseph Yobo (R) in their last duel in 2011**

Significantly, the October 8, 2011 match was Super Eagles’ last match at the Abuja National Stadium.

Nigeria last group match of Afcon 2019 will be against debutants, Madagascar. It is scheduled for June 30 at the Alexandria Stadium at the same time Burundi will be facing Guinea in Cairo.

NIGERIA-GUINEA HEAD-TO-HEAD

P W D L GF GA

Nigeria 14 4 6 4 17 14

Guinea 14 4 6 4 14 17

27 Jul. 1963 (Afconq) Nigeria 2-2 Guinea
6 Oct. 1963 (Afconq) Guinea 1-0 Nigeria * match awarded to Nigeria on technical ground
1 Dec. 1971(Balewa Cup) Guinea 3-0 Nigeria
30 Jan. 1972(Balewa Cup) Nigeria 1-1 Guinea
18 Jan. 1973 (2AAG) Nigeria 2-0 Guinea
9 March 1976 (Afcon) Guinea 1-1 Nigeria
12 Apr. 1981 (WCq) Guinea 1-1 Nigeria
25 Apr. 1981 (WCq) Nigeria 1-0 Guinea
9 Apr. 1989(Afconq) Guinea 1-1 Nigeria
22 Apr. 1989 (Afconq) Nigeria 3-0 Guinea
5 Apr. 1997 (WCq) Nigeria 2-1 Guinea
17 Aug. 1997 (WCq) Guinea 1-0 Nigeria
10 Oct. 2010 (Afconq) Guinea 1-0 Nigeria
8 Oct. 2011 (Afconq) Nigeria 2-2 Guinea

The game against Madagascar will be Super Eagles’ fifth encounter with the home country of CAF President, Ahmad.

Nigeria won three of the four previous clashes and drew only one. Their first clash was on October 7, 2001 in Antananarivo. The 2002 Afcon qualifier ended goalless.

NIGERIA-MADAGASCAR HEAD-TO-HEAD

P W D L GF GA

Nigeria 4 3 1 0 5 0

Madagascar 4 0 1 3 0 5

7 Oct. 2000 (Afconq) Madagascar 0-0 Nigeria
2 June 2001 (Afconq) Nigeria 1-0 Madagascar
5 Sept. 2010(Afconq) Nigeria 2-0 Madagascar
3 Sept. 2011(Afconq) Madagascar 0-2 Nigeria

AFCON

Libya sacks coach ahead of AFCON qualifying back-to-back matches with Nigeria

Published

3 days ago

September 17, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Milutin Sredojević

The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) has sacked its Serbian coach, Milutin Sredojević who is popularly known as Micho.

This is coming ahead of Libya’s back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations clashes with Nigeria next month.

Paradoxically, Sports Village Square gathered that the coach’s contract was only recently renewed for six months before the axe fell on the Serbian.

His sack was precipitated by the results obtained in their teo matches of the AFCON qualifiers.

Libya drew 1-1 with Rwanda at home and lost 2-1 away to Benin Republic despite beig a goal up at half time.

The Libyan side, Mediterranean Knights are due to play against the Nigeria Super Eagles in Uyo on 6 October while the return leg holds on 14 October at the 11 July Stadium in Tripoli.

According to information Sports Village Square gathered from Tripoli, the Mediterranean Knights’ coach, Micho led the Libyan national team to win nine matches since taking over in October of last year, he failed to build a strong team due to his poor choices.

He also took a risk with the footballers chosen in the AFCON qualifiers, and the result was shocking to the Libyan sports audience.

According to sources close to the Libyan Football Federation, there is a strong tendency to sign a national coach to lead the Libyan team during the remaining qualifiers for the African Cup of Nations.

AFCON

CAF president blasts Ghana, others over stadium ban

Published

3 days ago

September 17, 2024

Kunle Solaja

CAF President Patrice Motsepe has lashed out at Ghana and some other African countries whose home grounds were recently banned from hosting CAF matches owing to inadequate facilities. He made the remarks in Nairobi, Kenya during a press conference,

After the MatchDay 2 of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, CAF ruled Ghana’s Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi as being inadequate to host international matches. Being the only approved ground in the country, Ghana will now look towards either Cote d’Ivoire or Togo for their remaining home matches of the Afcon qualifiers.

Other African countries without approved home grounds are: Djibouti, Chad, Niger, Eritrea, Gabon, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, São Tomé and Burundi.

Motsepe voiced his frustration over the recurring issue of nations being unable to host home games.

“Nothing frustrates me more than a national team or club side having to play home matches outside,” he stated.

He stressed the significance of playing in front of home fans, adding, “You can’t grow football if the national teams or club sides aren’t playing in front of their home fans.”

Motsepe reiterated CAF’s commitment to working with countries to ensure they have at least one suitable stadium to host international fixtures.

“Our conversations in every country are to make sure there is at least one stadium capable of hosting a CAF category C game,” he emphasized.

AFCON

Present and Past as CAF Coaches Symposium unites Rohr, Peseiro and Eguavoen

Published

1 week ago

September 12, 2024

Kunle Solaja

The on-going CAF AFCON Cote d’Ivoire 2023 Coaches Symposium in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire has brought together, the last three coaches that handled the Nigeria national football team.

Gernot Rohr, Jose Peseiro and Austin Eguavoen are part of the the elite coaches currently gathered in Abidjan.

Gernot Rohr whose tenure of 5 years and 55 matches is the longest ever by any coach in Nigeria, is currently handling Nigeria’s Africa Cupof Nations and World Cup qualifying rivals, Benin Republic. He was succeeded in the interim by Austin Eguavoen who is currently having another interim stint.

Peseiro left his position after the Africa Cup of Nations